Back pain may be decreased or eliminated through stabilization or fusion of certain skeletal joints of the body, such as the sacro-iliac (“SI”) joint of the spine. Referring to FIG. 1A, the SI joint (6) is located at the juncture of the ilium (4), the upper bone of the pelvis, and the sacrum (2) at the base of the spine. While the sacroiliac joint (6) has a limited range of motion, dysfunction of the joint has been identified and associated with fairly significant negative impacts upon normal activity in some cases. Important soft tissue structures, such as ligaments, vessels, and nerves surround the SI joint, making intervention challenging. It would be valuable to have a means for minimally invasively stabilizing and/or fixating the SI joint in patients requiring such intervention, from an approach that does not compromise the important surrounding soft tissue structures.